Traught
by FrankandJoe3
Summary: Robin had no real powers, but he managed to keep calm when the only person who could help him save the team was distraught out of her mind. It was time to make her be traught, even if he had to fake it. **No Fanpairings**


**OHMYGOD! THEY SHOWED ROBIN WITHOUT THE MASK AND THEY HAD BARBARA AND THEY HAD MEGAN AND CONNER KISS AGAIN AND THEY MENTIONED HOW DICK BECAME ROBIN AT NINE AND THEY HAD BATMAN COMFORTING HIM AT THE END AND THEY HAD HIM LOOK ALL SEXY WITH HIS HAIR WET AND AS HE RAN AND THEY SHOWED HOW SMART HE WAS AND THEY USED HIS WORD PLAY AND THEY HAD HIM DROWN AND JOKE ABOUT IT AND THEY MENTIONED THE CAVE AND THE PIPES AND THE GENIUS AND ROBIN'S GOOD AIM AND HOW ROBIN WAS ALWAYS KIND OF UPSET BUT HE LEARNED TO HIDE IT 'CAUSE HE'S BEEN AT IT FOR FOUR YEARS AND THEY SHOWED HOW SEXY ROBIN LOOKED WITHOUT A CAPE AND THAT HE'S GONNA TORMENT ARTEMIS AT SCHOOL NOW THAT HE KNOWS SHE'S THERE AND WE SAW HOW CUTE HE LOOKS UNCONSCIOUS AND THAT ROBIN IS REALLY PRETTY SHORT AND THAT WHEN HE RECOVERS FROM DROWNING, HE'S ADORABLE AS HE'S CHOKING UP THE WATER FROM HIS LUNGS AND THAT HIS UTILITY BELT IS WATER PROOF AND THAT HE'S NOT A GERM FREAK BECAUSE HE SHARED HIS BREATHING TUBE WITH ARTEMIS SO SHE WOULDN'T DROWN AND THAT HE'S FASTER THAN FIRE AND THAT HE ISN'T A FISH AND THAT I'M OBSESSED WITH ROBIN AND THAT HYPERVENTALING WHILE EATING MCDONALDS CAN MAKE YOU CHOKE! **

**In other words, I screamed my heart out, giggled, jumped, danced, hyperventilated, choked… Yup, I'm a fangirl… (: So I had to write this. **

**Traught **

He never considered being a sidekick easy. It was tough work. He had to adapt between two masks on a day-to-day basis. At school, he had to stay giggly and carefree, but still act human, hiding his home life from his 'friends'. At home and on the 'job', he had to pretend like he had no fears and that he was just as strong as his powered companions. Four years of harsh training had taught him that. If he couldn't fend for himself, life would beat him down like a lonely white girl in a dark alley.

He wasn't Superman though. He didn't have super strength. He wasn't the Flash. He didn't have super speed. He wasn't Martian Manhunter. He didn't have any otherworldly abilities. He wasn't Batman. He didn't have years of experience under his utility belt and a heart of stone. He wasn't Green Arrow. He didn't have perfect aim with a bow and arrow. He _was _two people though. That was something none of the Justice League could balance properly.

He was Dick Grayson. He could calculate an Algebra problem, no matter the length, in a minute flat. He was captain of the debate team and he could convince a science professor that the sky was green if he needed to. He could run the mile in four minutes flat. He could do the flex arm hang for the whole class period- an hour and 10 minutes. He could do 200 sit ups in a minute, 180 pushups in a minute, 40 pull-ups in a minute, jump two feet higher than his height, complete the shuttle run in 4 seconds, touch 6 inches past his toes and throw 65 basketball shots in a row. He was a straight A student and a teacher's pet, but he was mostly just known as 'that weird freshmen kid with the pretty eyes'.

He was Robin. He was Batman's sidekick. He could tolerate a bullet wound, he could live through a stab wound, and he never gave up until he was knocked unconscious. He could leap from a tall building in a single bound and glide along the lamp posts with his grappling hook. He always had a plan of a sort and he could speak with his mentor using _just _his eyes. He could last an hour under water on one breathing tube. He could launch a bat-bomb at his target from 150 feet away, usually being 95% accurate. He could disappear from an area in a few seconds flat. He could pull of a girlish giggle. He made Spandex look sexy. He could hide the fear of dying just my keeping his eyes calm. He could hack a database in less than a minute.

He could switch from Dick to Robin simply by showing his eyes to the world and fixing his hair. Bruce and Batman were basically the same, only Bruce smiled a little more. Barry and the Flash were practically the same, minus the red spandex. Dick hadn't met any of the other superheroes' identities, but he was sure he'd know after a few more hours of research, and he was sure that their alter egos were practically twins. The point was, not even the best of the best could figure out the difference between happy and giggly Dick and determinate and cocky Robin. Even Artemis was clueless after hearing his trademark giggle when he snapped their picture at school. He was hoping that she'd recognize his voice or his laugh, but she had been just as clueless as everyone else.

When he had donned his black domino mask, she was still clueless. They were soaking wet, his cape was missing and she had lost his breathing tube. He was pissed, tired and his lungs stung, but he kept on anyway. Artemis crawled after him, but he could tell that she was losing hope fast. She was really bumming him out with her lack of hope, but he'd never admit that. Part of him wanted to stop and whack her in the head or something to straighten her head, but he was above being a jackass. Besides, he could always binder check her in school and dash off with a giggle and she'd never be the wiser.

They had just climbed into the pipe, out of the water. Both were out of breath, in pain and panicked, but Artemis was more off edge than her ebony companion. They both sat back, resting their backs against the cold of the pipe for a moment to breathe. Water fell from their spandex costumes and their hair alike, covering the floor of the pipe, but they couldn't really care less about the water. It was the last thing on their minds. Their breathing was heavy as they tried to recatch it.

"Six minutes," the male robot's voice shot through the tunnel.

Artemis's eyes locked on Robin's mask and they stared at each other for a moment in the cramped compartment.

"What do we do now?" Artemis asked, her voice filled with worry.

Robin's eyebrows furrowed.

_Panicking isn't helping anyone _he thought to himself, but he knew fighting with her would do him no good now.

Wally was in trouble, Megan was dying, and Kaldur seemed pretty close! Oh yeah, Superboy was in trouble too…

"We save them," he tried to sound brave. "That's how it works."

When the echo in the tunnel sounded back, he was surprised at how brave he actually sounded. It was way better then it had been in his head. That was the beauty of being Robin though.

"Maybe that's how it's _supposed _to work, but those robots already took out our four _super powered _friends!" Artemis sounded hysterical, her eyes twice as wide as they usually were.

Robin had never seen her like this. Before, she was always cocky and standoffish, but now, she seemed scared and _human. _He had finally discovered her weakness. He figured he would sooner or later. A smug grin came to his lips.

"You seem distraught," he taunted lightly.

"Distraught? M'Gann is _dying_, we have _no _powers and I'm down to my last arrow! OF COURSE I'M DISTRAUGHT!"

The hysteria in her voice was now full of anger. She was yelling at him. She had discovered his weakness. She didn't know it though. He _hated _when people yelled at him, especially when he was helping him. Robin had given Artemis his breathing tube so she wouldn't drown _and she lost it_. He had found their friends _and she wasn't thankful_. He had managed to find a way to get them away from the freak robots _and she was yelling at him_. Normally, he was a little more lenient, but she was right. They had no powers and no heroes on their side to help them. She was out of arrows. Of course she was distraught. He was too! Any sane human would be! So of course he couldn't keep from snapping at her. He figured if he showed he wasn't as weak as she thought he was, maybe she'd have a little more faith.

"_Well get traught, or get… dead_," he growled, his eyes thin slits, even on the outside of the mask.

It was just a spur of the moment thought. Distraught without the dis would be traught. The opposite of distraught was calm, cool-headed, everything she wasn't being at the moment. Sure, the 'or get dead' part wasn't very clever, but it did the trick because she went silent for a moment. Her wide eyes shrank back to normal, but she still looked scared.

"How can you be so calm?" she asked softly, her voice shaking.

He was already turned around though and was crawling through the tunnel. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to be calm. He was Robin. He was calm. He could handle this.

"Practice," he admitted lightly.

She started crawling after him before he continued.

"I've been doing this since I was nine."

Robin was surprised to hear himself admit that, but he figured it was no harm. He knew Wally was going to blow his cover one day after digging deep enough, so little hints like that would just get it over with faster. Artemis was silent, thinking over his words.

_Since he was 9? He's what, 14 now? 13? That'd be at least four or five years of practice… but why would he start so young? Why would Batman pick a nine year old? Maybe Robin _does _have powers, he just won't admit it _she thought to herself with a frown.

But then she remembered the situation.

"What good is that now? What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?" the hysteria in her voice was still in small traces, but she sounded more traught than before at least.

Robin froze. That was it. That was what he had forgotten. He had been too busy thinking about the team's safety to analyze his enemies.

"Duh!" he mentally face palmed, turning to face Artemis with a grin. "They're machines! And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range."

"Great," she said with false enthusiasm and a fake smile, crawling next to him in the duct. "Except you better have an EMP emitter in your utility belt, because I _know _I don't have one in my quiver!"

She stopped crawling for a moment, sitting down again. Robin never quit grinning, but in his mind, he kicked her for doubting his power.

"I'm fresh out," he apologized, "But I'm betting we can make one."

He set a hand to the communicator in his ear, his high spirits returning in hopes he could give Artemis enough hope to keep on.

"What do you say KF?" he asked playfully. "Doable?"

"_Totally _doable," Wally's voice flooded his ear, sending a happy shiver down in back in relief that he had good enough aim to plant the communicator.

"Five minutes," the robotic male voice sounded through the duct again.

"You know… if we had more time," the excitement in the ginger's voice faded, but the point was that he was still alive.

Dick knew they were doomed, but Robin still had hope. As long as he wore that mask of his, he'd keep on until he died trying, or came something awfully close to it. He could tell that he hadn't assured Artemis, so he figured he might have to trip her a class period after he binder checked her, but it'd all be worth it in the end when the two super-powerless heroes saved the Cave and proved something to their friends. He could see that Artemis was still distraught and that no amount of assuring would her traught, but maybe if he faked being traught long enough, it'd rub off on her and she'd fake it too. That's all life was anyway: just a big play where you're supposed to read your lines from a script. Everything is just pretend until the curtains fall and the crowd is traught with the performance.

**That word is so confusing to use, so I'm going to use it all day tomorrow. "Dude… I am **_**so **_**traught…" Well yeah, kickass episode. Sorry if it's off. I'm still in a bad mood. Oh well, review? I mean, I know a million people are going to write about this episode, but I figured I might as well too. Sorry if it's not as good as the other million… **

**-F.J.3**


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